Syfy's new show seems to have the right recipe to be a big hit

Basically, sci-fi was never been my number one choice for TV shows or even a movie. Judge me all you want, but I always find that genre was the least appealing to watch with the science bull crap and all that. So, that’s why I never have a series with that specific genre in my bucket list. And I never thought I was willing to watch one.

But then, Syfy came up with a new show calls ‘Helix’. And I’m glad that I took a chance on it. Because that was probably the most intense, suspenseful pilot I’ve ever seen since BBC America introduced ‘Orphan Black’ on small screen last year.

Sci-fi might never be my favorite genre, but I always dig a story involving an epidemic, virus or apocalypse (yeah, judge away). And that was actually the ultimate reason I decided to watch ‘Helix’ in the first place.

The premise of the show was quite my thing: a group of CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) professionals leads by Dr. Alan Farragut (Billy Campbell) was sent to the Arctic to investigate a disease outbreak in a research facility. Once they arrived, they found out that the whole thing was way worse than they’d thought.

‘Helix’ premiered with two episodes in a row. It was a good thing though, because we got approximately 1 and a half hour to experience whatever it was the show tried to offer and gave us a proper time to judge whether the show was another crappy program from Syfy or a potential hit show that hopefully would match AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’.

On the pilot episode, we got the big picture as to what the series would revolve around. From the moment the CDC team set foot in the private lab, we knew instantly there’s something fishy there. Mainly, because the lab’s leader, Hiroshi Hitake (Hiroyuki Sanada) constantly gives us a weird vibe that he was up to no good from the beginning. And there was that thing with monkeys which was creepy as hell.

The pressure then only getting bigger as the only survival victim, who happens to be Farragut’s brother, escaped from the isolation room and started to attack others in the lab. To make things worse, the virus had made him stronger, faster, and less human. But, at that time we still not sure what kind of monster the virus had created. Does he eat people and turn them into some kind of zombie? Or he just attacks everyone and passing the virus in the process without eating them?

Moving on to episode 2, we got all the answer from questions above. Turned out that the infected one attack other people through some kind of oral contact and passing something looks like black blood through their mouth. In the case of Farragut’s brother, Peter, he seems capable to think and talk, despite all the physical changes the virus had caused. So, it was clear at the time, that this show isn’t gonna be about brainless, eating-human zombie all the way.

On episode 2 (which titling ‘Vector’), the writers gave hints to the viewers that everything was more complex and deeper than they’d appeared (well, of course it does). At the end of the episode we still wondering what exactly happened to Peter and two of his colleague. And what’s the deal between Hitake and that seems-like-nice sergeant? Oh, and why Hitake seems to have a suspicious interests in Dr. Julia Walker? Clearly, there’s still plenty rooms for this show to develop its storyline through times.

My only problem with this show was the female cast. I don’t think they’d brought a top-notch performance on the show. Their acting was plain and ridiculously awkward. And those were becoming even more apparent since the show had strong male cast like Campbell and Sanada.

But, then, I think the writers had built weak female characters from the beginning. ‘Cause they don’t seem to have a significant role on the series compare to the male ones. So, as a viewer, I tend to ignore their existence during the show. The only female character I dig so far is Dr. Doreen Boyle (Catherine Lemieux), but she’d only appear on three episodes, so I guess her character would get killed off soon.

Anyway, all the negativity aside, based on the first two episodes, I’d say ‘Helix’ has a great potential to be a big hit. It has a promising premise, well-executed plot, and it has all the elements to make it as a fan-favorite series: virus epidemic that could take over the world someday. What’s not to like? This could be the beginning of ‘The Walking Dead’! I hope Syfy wouldn’t ruin this one.